Review of the Prior Art
In the U.S. Gulf Coast margin area, as from the Mississippi River to Corpus Christi, Tex., as well as in other areas of the world, notably in Indonesia, there are located substantial subsea reserves of oil and gas below waters of from 25 to 150 feet deep. In such depths of water, jack-up drilling platforms are usable with particular economic advantage. In many of these areas, the hydrocarbon reserves, notably gas reserves, are of such nature as to be regarded as of marginal economic nature when evaluated in the context of presently available development and production techniques and equipment. Because of the economically marginal nature of these reserves, they are not being considered for development and production. However, if improved procedures for the fabrication, installation, and operation of offshore development and production facilities can be provided, the economic potential of these reserves will be enhanced, thereby encouraging the production of the substantial hydrocarbon reserves which there exist.
A need exists for the development of new procedures and techniques for the expeditious and efficient fabrication, installation, and operation of development and production facilities offshore in areas now considered to be of marginal economic nature. If this need can be satisfied, then economic incentives would exist for the production from these reserves of the hydrocarbons which are known there to exist, but which have not been tapped because of the uneconomic aspects of present procedures. Development of these oil and gas fields will contribute substantially to an improvement in the present worldwide supply of these resources which are now in short, if not critical, supply in many areas.